By IANS
Bangalore : The Congress in Karnataka Saturday said it would decide what to do in the face of a political crisis only after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formally withdrew support to the H.D. Kumaraswamy government.
The party also said that it had left to the high command to decide whether to support the tottering Kumaraswamy-led ministry of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) or opt for early elections in the state.
“We are not in a hurry to disclose our cards,” a senior leader told IANS. “The Congress has considered various options, but a decision will be made known only after the BJP formally withdraws support. Let the JD-S make the move first, if it wants our support.”
Earlier, state Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters after a meeting of party legislators: “We discussed the situation and will abide by the decision of the party high command.”
Congress leader and former chief minister Dharam Singh attended the meeting.
BJP leaders in the state will meet Governor Rameshwar Thakur Sunday noon to submit a letter withdrawing support to Kumaraswamy after the JD-S backtracked on its agreement to hand over power Oct 3.
On Oct 2, all 17 BJP ministers handed over their resignations to Kumaraswamy hoping to pressure him to honour his word to hand over power. But he refused to and the BJP announced Saturday in New Delhi that it was withdrawing support.
“Divergent views were expressed at the legislators meeting. I would not term them as differences,” a Congress leader said, when asked if there was unanimity on propping up the Kumaraswamy ministry to avoid early polls.
The Congress has 65 members in the 225-member assembly. The BJP has 79 and JD-S 51. The rest are made up of smaller parties and independents.
The Congress leader acknowledged that a substantial section of legislators were against early elections.
“Also, the high command may want the state elections to coincide with the Lok Sabha elections, which may become inevitable early next year if the Left parties withdraw support to the central government over the Indo-US nuclear deal,” he said.
“It is all speculation,” he said to reports that some JD-S leaders were in touch with Congress leaders in New Delhi to explore the ground for a meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda.